Last fall, Peter and I had a brilliant idea: why not bring chickens into our lives come the spring of 2026? Clearly, nothing says "perfect timing" like juggling full-time jobs in Washington, D.C., living in a suburban townhouse during the week, and escaping to our homestead on the weekends. Who needs rest when you can have chickens? We hatched a plan to spice up our weekend warrior homestead with some feathery friends. Our mission: find gadgets and gizmos to automate chicken

Not far down this homesteading path one realizes that poo is everywhere. But poop is sort of the point. Wait, what...? Well, on our little postage-stamp-of-a-farm, whether it's chicken, duck, rabbit, worm, black soldier fly, and hopefully someday goat and pig, the waste is an ever-present reality, and benefit, of raising animals. It's actually key to the regenerative farming cycle. There are countless ways to do this, but the goal is always the same--using plants, animals,

A long overdue tour of everything going on at the homestead...Peter and I have been working hard and expanding gardens and adding new animals to the farm.

Part-time homesteading and vacations looks an awful lot like more work, but Peter and I are enjoying our highly anticipated spring break week together at the homestead. Today we built a Hugelkultur for our remaining potatoes...we had 50 pounds to plant and ran out of room in the raised beds. So, we have soooo many potatoes and will need volunteers to help us eat them all this fall! BTW, hugelkultur is a form of gardening that Peter stumbled into that uses dead wood (which we

Some days are just a mix of really hard and really exciting... Peter and I had to say goodbye to our sweet Finnbogi (the first feral cat that befriended us) today. She showed up at the homestead a few days ago with a severe leg injury. She recently recovered from another severe injury, and we knew she was the outcast amongst the feral cat community and would often show up looking rough around the edges. She is at rest now. We buried her next to the bees. That's the really ha

Not much to say about this other than it is just a part of our fall routine... Join us as we get our garlic planted (in super-speedy fashion) for next year! Our garlic is from Keene Garlic . Great products with great resources for anyone who wants to grow beautiful garlic!

Happy Labor Day! The weather is teasing us with fall-like temperatures and lower humidity... it might just be fake fall here in Virginia, but we love it! This weekend, we enjoyed the company of my sister on the homestead, and we were able to accomplish much.

Peter and I make dramatic changes to the garden, which feels like a big loss, but find wins along the way...

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” — Hippocrates “A sad soul can be just as lethal as a germ.” — John Steinbeck...

In a scene in the 1990's movie "Father of the Bride," Steve Martin's character loses his cool in the grocery store....as he rips out the...

Well maybe not actual farming, but we are prepping to bring down more creepy crawlies to the homestead this weekend. ore creepy crawlies...

This week, Peter and I launched a YouTube channel. We hope it will offer a way to share insights into our processes and strategies for...

Japanese beetles love our gardens and orchard. They have made quick, destructive work of our apple trees, beans and zinnias...apparently...

A rainy-ish Saturday is a good reminder of how much our watering gig here at the homestead has changed for the coming growing season....